| Secondary abstract: |
Till recently, in the highlands of Slovenia, the harvestmen (Arachnida: Opiliones) fauna had not been satisfactorily investigated. Sparce data on the presence of Opiliones above the altitude of 2000 m predominantly refer to the area of the Julian Alps, while in the Kamnik-Savinja Alps, the majority most items refer up to the altitude of 1300 m. In our research, were examined for the harvestman fauna and described 160 habitats in the altitudes of above 1800 m till the peak of the following mountains: Mt. Brana, Planjava, Ojstrica, Turska gora, Štajerska, Koroška and Kranjska Rinka, Skuta, Grintovec, Kočna, Krofička, Dleskovška planota plateau, Raduha, Velika and Mala Koroška Baba, the Kalški greben ridge, Kompotela, Mokrica and Storžič, as well as the Koren and Kriška planina mountain pastures. At each site, the basic abiotic characteristics and typical plants were described; on the basis of this data, habitat types and their ecotones, respectively were determined and soil animals sampled. The abiotic factors were evaluated using descriptive statistics, while the correlations between the environmental factors and the presence of Opiliones species were analyzed using the canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) and cluster analysis. The similarities of habitat types with respect to the abundance of Opiliones were elaborated. In total, 17 harvestman species were found. Among the abiotic factors, the vegetation cover and soil type influence most the presence of Opiliones. The highest density of Opiliones was found in the ecotone between the Cushion sedge carpets (36.433) and Butterburn screes (61.213) and the ecotone of Southern rusty sedge grasslands (36.413) and Alpine calcareous screes (61.232). The findings concerning Mitopus morio, Platybunus bucephalus, Mitostoma alpinum, Nemastoma triste and Dicranopalpus gasteinensis are confident, whilst those concerning other harvestman species are rather estimates, as less than 10 specimens were found in total. |